Conyers to object to Ohio vote count, certification

Date: Tuesday, January 04, 2005
By: Michael H. Cottman

Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., the ranking minority member of the House Judiciary Committee, said Monday that he plans to formally "object to the  counting of the Ohio votes" in the 2004 presidential race when a joint session of Congress meets Thursday to ratify November's election  results.

"We're not going to roll over and surrender when we know there have been countless voting irregularities in Ohio," Conyers told  BlackAmericaWeb.com.

"This is the second time that George W. Bush had a one-state victory that is hugely controversial," said Conyers. "We are asking for careful consideration by the House and Senate. Voting is the key to a Democratic system."

Conyers said there were numerous voting problems in Ohio, including voting machine errors and voting machines owned by manufacturers who were "unabashedly Bush supporters."

Several news organizations have published stories about Democrats questioning the propriety of allowing Diebold, a touch-screen systems company owned by Walden O'Dell, a major Bush fund raiser, to calculate votes in the 2004 presidential election.

O'Dell, in a 2003 letter to fellow Republicans, said that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."

Conyers sent a letter last month to all U.S. senators saying he believes the
irregularities resulted in election violations that should be investigated.

"As you know, on Jan. 6, 2005, at 1 p.m., the electoral votes for the election of the president are to be opened and counted in a joint session of Congress," Conyers wrote in his letter. "I and a number of House members are planning to object to the counting of the Ohio votes, due to numerous unexplained irregularities in the Ohio presidential vote, many of which appear to violate both federal and state law.

"I am hoping that you will consider joining us in this important effort to debate and highlight the problems in Ohio which disenfranchised innumerable voters," Conyers wrote.

Conyers and supporters say Ohio's numbers are problematic because of several irregularities on Election Night, including disparities in the vote totals for different Democrats on the same ballot and the disqualification of more than 90,000 presidential votes on punch-card ballots because the choices could not be determined. A computer glitch on Election Night also recorded an extra 3,893 votes for Bush in one suburban Ohio precinct.

Bush won a narrow victory in Ohio over Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. Bush received 51 percent of the votes in Ohio, to Kerry's 49 percent. Bush won by 2 percentage points, or 119,000 votes.

Kerry would have won the presidency had he carried Ohio's 20 electoral votes. He conceded on Nov. 3, the day after the election, saying there were not enough provisional and other ballots cast in his favor for him to win the election.

In a recent conference call with reporters to announce Monday's rally to call attention to the alleged voter fraud and irregularities in Ohio, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said the state suffered more widespread problems than those experienced in Florida during the 2000 election.

"We want a thorough investigation to determine the outcome of the vote in Ohio," Jackson said. "Kerry conceded the election before all the facts were in."

Jackson charged that some voting machines in Ohio were mysteriously changing votes from Kerry to Bush. "We need a forensic computer analyses," said Jackson, adding that lines for inner-city voters averaged three hours while their suburban counterparts stood in line for about 30 minutes. Jackson also said he supports an amendment to end the nation's Electoral College process.

"It's an antiquated process that must be abolished," he said. "We deserve an equal playing field."

The Electoral College system allocates each state a number of electors equal to the number of its U.S. senators plus the number of its U.S. Congressional representatives. Political parties in each state submit to the state's chief election official a list of individuals pledged to their candidate for president and equal in number to the state's electoral vote. Usually, the major political parties these individuals either in their state party conventions or through appointment by their state party leaders.

Jackson called the voting irregularities and voter suppression in the 2004 presidential election a "well-planned and thought-out scheme" by Republicans.

"The integrity of our democracy is at stake," Jackson said.

Jackson and civil rights lawyers who were also on the conference call said they would like access to a laptop belonging to Karl Rove,  Bush's political adviser, to determine what communication was transmitted  between  Rove and Ohio Republicans during the election.

In the 2000 presidential election, black members of the House of Representatives attempted to challenge the electoral votes from the state of Florida, but no senators joined in the objection, and therefore, the challenge was not formally considered.

In his documentary, "Fahrenheit 9-11," filmmaker Michael Moore showed the scene in Congress where black House members stood to challenge the certification of the Florida votes.

"We're talking to a number of senators," Conyers said Monday. "I think we're going to get some [senators' support on Thursday] this time. I don't think they'll embarrass themselves again. They left it up to Michael Moore last time."